[Respiratory system of Pichia guilliermondii yeasts with different levels of flavinogenesis].

The yeast Pichia guilliermondii was grown on media with different content of iron and its respiration system was studied. When the yeast was cultivated on a complete medium, its respiratory chain operated at the maximum rate in the exponential growth phase, i. e. all the three points of phosphorylation were involved; cytochrome oxidase was the only terminal oxidase. When the growth was decelerated and at the stationary phase, the alternative autooxidable cyanide-resistant pathway inhibited with salicyl hydroxamate partly functioned. Iron deficiency in the medium resulted in a two-three-fold decrease in the content of total and non-hemin iron in the cells, changes in the character and rate of growth, a decrease in the biomass yield, a high rate of flavinogenesis, a slight decrease in the respiration activity, though no drastic changes in the respiration system occurred. This system is represented, as in the case of cells grown on a complete medium, by a typical cytochrome system and an alternative autooxidable pathway. The absence of principal differences in the respiration systems of normal and iron-deficient cells, as well as the operation of the first point of coupling in flavinogenic cells, makes it doubtful that Fenh-proteins of the first segment of the respiratory chain are involved in the regulation of flavinogenesis.